This Emergency Medicine elective is designed to introduce senior medical students to the specialty of Emergency Medicine and to provide students with the opportunity to assume primary responsibility for the diagnosis and management of acutely ill patients. These goals are accomplished through daily rounds, informal and formal conferences and direct patient care in the adult and pediatric areas of the Emergency Department.

The best way to learn Emergency Medicine is through primary patient care under supervision. You will evaluate patients, complete the workups and perform various diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers under the direct supervision of the Department of Emergency Medicine residents and faculty. Many critically ill patients are evaluated by a "team approach", and students are an integral part of this team.

Harbor-UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine, is a Level I Trauma Center. We see approximately 100,000 patients a year or 300 patients a day in the various "Emergency Departments". These patients present with a host of complaints ranging from the minor to acutely life threatening. Rotating students are encouraged to see patients with a host of medical and surgical complaints at a rate they feel comfortable with. Most see an average of 40-90 patients during their month.

Harbor is also a Paramedic Base Station and Paramedic Training Institute. During this rotation you will have the opportunity to spend at least one day with a local paramedic squad as a ride along observer. This is a fantastic opportunity to see first hand how pre-hospital care is delivered in Los Angeles County and how it is integrated with hospital care providers. While in the Adult Emergency Department you will also have the opportunity to interact with paramedic trainees and "listen in" on paramedic calls when base hospital medical direction is required.

During this elective you will spend one day working with our Emergency Department nursing staff. This will allow you to experience first hand another aspect of the "team approach" to medical care we practice at Harbor and gain a better understanding of exactly what critically important roles our nurses play. You will gain further experience in some procedures such as IV placement, blood drawing, arterial blood gas drawing, nasogastric tube and Foley catheter placement, and preparation of monitors, medicine pumps and preparing IV medications.

Learning Objectives

1. To become accomplished at performing a rapid and appropriate evaluation of adult emergency patients.

2. To implement and carry out a treatment plan for these patients.

3. To develop improved history and physical examination skills.

4. To provide an exposure to Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medicine physicians.

5. To gain further experience in and improve the techniques of wound care, suturing, resuscitation, IV’s, LP’s and other procedures.